griffithr

Hi there,

Firstly I'd like to apologise if I have posted in the wrong place or forum. I couldn't quite find where to post so thought I'd start here being a new memeber and all.

I am a UK citizen and my boyfriend is a U.S citizen who is 36. We first met online 14 months ago and first met in person last August when he came to visit me in the UK. I have been to the states twice to visit him - 2 weeks in Oct 14 and 10 weeks from Dec-Feb 15.

He is coming to visit in 6 days time and has a return ticket back to the U.S after a 6 week visit.
So! My issues are border control. Last time he visited me he was v upfront and said visiting girlfriend when asked and they questioned him about me, what he did etc. He said he was a teacher (which he was at the time) and he was let through with no issues.

A year later he is no longer teaching or working in an environment lab (testing building materials for asbestos etc) but decided to buy and renovate a house as his hobby/passion was woodworking and renovation etc and he knew he could make a good profit opn the house. He has just completed the project and sold the property which was also his home but this only went through 2 weeks ago. Now if asked about his job should he say "property developer" as that is how he sees himself? He made an 80k profit on the house which was double what he made working before. However, he does not have an "employer" as such as he completed the project himself. We see ourselves very much being together and our plan is to apply for a fiancee visa for him to come here once he returns to the US. the reason we have not done it yet is that I have had to take on an additional job to meet the financial requirement and I have to have held the job for 6 months which I will have done by end of sept. However, due to trying to finish and sell the house, we haven't seen each other for 6 months and couldn't bear to wait until we could apply for the fiance visa. ( I couldn't visit him as had already had 10 weeks off work at the beginning of the year) and he was working in an environment lab for 6 months as well as doing up the house and couldn't get time off. So!

Do you think we'll have issues if he says he is here on vacation to visit his girlfriend and friends and travel, is a property developer who has just finished a large project affording him time to travel and will have bank statemnts to prove he can fund himself? If pushed furthur he will explain that he knows we cannot marry in the Uk, he knows that in order to apply for a fiance visa he has to be in the states and that he is just having a break and travelling the UK with me for 6 weeks? I am killing myself with worry over this. I know if he just said a vacation with friends he'd probably get fewer questions but I think it's important to be honest if we are planning on applying for a settlement visa. He could slightly fudge the truth and say he planned to go back and start another renovation project but he would have no proof. Do you really need proof if you are independently wealthy and have over 80k in your bank account? It's difficult because we really are doing nothing wrong and he HAS to go back as all his belongings are there plus his car and I cannot see why anyone who knew the rules and had the money would ever try and enter and stay illegally when they would then never be able to marry or work legally and risk deportation constantly. He is coming for a fun holiday and we plan to travel all over the UK.

Can anyone give me any advice on what we should say or what they experinced at the UK border? The bare bones facts are:
Property developer, just finished project and has to go back to tie up loose ends (true), has to go back to apply for fiance visa, has large amounts in bank account, has return ticket, has car and all belongings in the U.S? Knows the immigration rules and wants to follow them

Any help much appreciated!!!!

DaveBlaine

Just tell him to throw all his identity papers away at the border and claim that he's seeking asylum from a war-torn third world country. The UK will let him right in and probably sign him up for benefits.

I'm joking of course.

airsupply

So he is basically self- employed and is going to UK on holiday visiting and traveling with friends. My general strategy at the borders is to answer questions asked , to the point and do not ramble on.

LondonElite

Indeed. Keep it simple, say he is a self-employed, and he is here for tourism visiting some friends. Presumably he has evidence of a return flight/ticket, so I doubt he'll have any significant issues being let in. If you do a search here, you'll find that there are plenty of cases like this, and the answer is consistently the same. Just don't overthink it, or try to be clever by pre-empting possible questions. What he is doing is perfectly fine, so you shouldn't have any problems.

Welcome to FT, griffithr, and let please do let us know how it goes!

GUWonder

Keep it simple when dealing with border guards at say LHR. That means not volunteering info that hasn't been asked, and being polite as due, but not really worrying about it.

While the landing card has a question about work, saying "real estate" would be sufficient. If asked more questions, "develop property to flip it" works, without saying "self-employed".

If asked for how long staying, give the right answer. If asked the purpose of the visit: "visit SO and some other friends".

As long as the person seems destined to leave on time -- ticket heading back to the US helps -- without violating the conditions of the entry -- funds to pay for the stay and not become a burden on the UK -- it's usually not a problem. At least for guys in this kind of situation. For gals in this kind of situation, it's a bit of a different beast.

Finkface

Does he actually have an address to put on the landing card? If he was living in the house that he sold, has he found a new place to live? He may be asked for a lease as part of proving his 'ties' to the US. If he has no address, that could raise a red flag.

LondonElite

He's probably not sleeping on a park bench, though, so he'll enter the address where he is currently sleeping, even if it's his parents' house.

Finkface

It's possible he timed the trip to coincide with the closing date of the house. If he sold it 2 weeks ago, it takes time to close escrow and move out. If I were selling a house and planning a lengthy trip and needed to find a new apartment when I got back anyway, I'd time it that way.

beckoa

Welcome to Flyertalk griffithr.

As this is UK specific, we're relocating your post.

Hope you both have a good visit ^

~beckoa, co-moderator Information Desk

LondonElite

TMI which the UK Border Force is not interested in. Just keep it simple.

ft101

I thought it asked for a contact address in the UK, not a home address?

GUWonder

The landing card doesn't ask for a U.S. home address. It asks for the stay address in the UK. I put down my UK hotel address, when I put any address down there.

It's highly improbable (something on the order of less than 1/1000 chance) that an adult male US citizen visiting his girlfriend for six weeks and in possession of a return ticket would be asked for a lease by passport control in the UK.

NewbieRunner

Bear in mind that SO is not a commonly used term in the UK.

LondonElite

I think the likelihood of being asked for a lease by UKBP is closer to 1 in 1,000,000. There would be no expectation that anyone would travel with this. And more to the point, it would prove absolutely nothing.

GUWonder

Indeed. And, in plenty of cases, appearing to be "over-prepared" invites more scrutiny. Evidence of a return ticket and means to pay for the stay if the relationship sours is commonly sufficient if even verbally asked anything about the stay other than for how long the person is staying.